Arcade Fire Encourages Fans To Donate To New Haiti Charity

Canadian rockers Arcade Fire have pledged $1 million to a charity in Haiti – if their fans do the same.

Singer Win Butler – whose wife and bandmate Régine Chassagne has Haitian parents – said the band will match $5 donations made by fans who text 30333, up to CAN$1 million. The money will go to Kanpe, a charity launched at a charity concert featuring Arcade Fire in Quebec on July 12.

According to the new charity: "Driven by a need to accelerate and multiply the various sustainable development efforts in Haiti, business, health, micro-credit, communications and arts leaders have joined forces to develop a program to help Haiti’s most impoverished residents escape the cycle of poverty.

“KANPE means “Stand Up” in Haitian Creole, and, as the name suggests, the bulk of the organisation’s initiatives and activities, developed in tandem with its local partners Partners in Health (PIH, or Zanmi Lasante in Creole) and micro-credit specialists Fonkoze, are geared towards seeing Haiti’s most vulnerable citizens achieve self-sufficiency. The organisation’s recognition of the long-term nature of its mandate is reflected in its slogan, “Haïti rebuilds, one village at a time”.

“A new movement is underway, and KANPE hopes to see citizens of Montreal, Quebec, Canada and the world “KANPE” – “Stand Up” to help rebuild Haiti."

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